On August 21, the 56-year-old journalist and activist helped her eldest son, Patrick Schwarzenegger, 18, get settled in his dorm room at the University of Southern California, where he'll begin classes as a freshman shortly. Her firstborn, Katherine Schwarzenegger, 22, also pitched in.

"It's very different moving boys into college compared to two girls. So much less stuff," Shriver, also mom to Christina, 21, and Christopher, 14, tweeted. "No matching this and that."

Katherine, who graduated in May with a communication degree, added that she was "so exhausted from moving Patrick into my old dorm at USC! So freaky and I'm for sure going to be waterworks all day tomorrow!"

Patrick, meanwhile, had only one worry on his mind. "Going to be interesting to meet my roommate for the first time," he told his nearly 61,500 Twitter followers.

After making sure her son had all the essentials (like Q-tips, shampoo, lotion and bedding), Shriver took a moment to reflect on Patrick's latest milestone. "Patrick's first night away will be tomorrow night. Send me lots of virtual Kleenex!" she tweeted. "Happy for him but the mom in me is also sad."

Patrick's father, action star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was M.I.A. Shriver and her husband, 65, separated in May 2011 after 25 years of marriage shortly before news of Schwarzenegger's affair -- and secret love child -- with the family's longtime housekeeper, Mildred Baena, went public.